VDay
by White Firebird
Summary: Sam hates Valentine's Day. She also hates being left in the dark about secrets. This could end up in perfect harmony...or with someone getting their legs broken. Never leave anything to chance with Sam Puckett.


**Been a while since I wrote anything iCarly related. Everything's being worked on, I promise. But in the meantime, here's a little holiday inspired one-shot I came up with the other night. Enjoy.**

**I don't own iCarly. I wish I did, though.**

Sam Puckett woke up today feeling no different than she had on most other days. She still felt sleepy, and was bemoaning having to go to school today and deal with the stupid teachers and their stupid homework. Then she turned over to her side, grabbed her phone, and saw what the date was. Her eyes lit up in a way that hadn't done so in quite a while.

She then promptly (and rather violently) threw her phone against the wall, a surprised look on her face when it didn't shatter into pieces all over the place, before she turned over and faced the other way. Valentine's Day was her least favorite holiday (though she couldn't stand that it was even _considered_ one in the first place) of the year, and she made a point every year to show her displeasure for it, be it wrecking the roses stand that was set up in the hallway two years ago to giving Gibby a Texas wedgie that he'd never forget when he dressed up as Cupid last year. A small smile then crept across her lips. That was probably the best wedgie she ever handed out to anyone, including Freddie. The smile then disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

Sure, the two of them had broken up a little over five months ago, but that didn't change the fact that the two of them had become closer as friends, with no lingering awkwardness over the break up, and they were enjoying it. Sure, she still ragged on him and beat him up occasionally, but compared to when she would do it 24/7 and would go out of her way to make his life a living nightmare, she was very proud with the progression she had made over the years. Not to mention Carly kept saying how good it was that she had changed, which, by the 5,164th time, had grown **old**, but she kept her mouth shut because it made her best friend happy...and a happy Carly was always a fun Carly. Not so much when she was upset about something.

Groaning at the thought that her two least favorite things in the world were now being combined into one, she got out of bed and trudged down the hall to where the bathroom was, dragging her feet every step of the way. After a quick shower and getting herself dressed, she had her customary can of Wahoo Punch in one hand and a pack of low fat Fat Cakes in the other as she waited for Carly and Spencer to pick her up at her house. When she saw the two of them pull up, she caught a glimpse of what Carly was wearing and she instantly rolled her eyes before entering the car, taking her normal place in the backseat.

"Hey Sam! Good morning!"

"Really Carls...with that outfit. Really?"

The brunette looked down at her red and white striped shirt, obviously to celebrate the 'holiday', and she frowned a bit as she looked back at Sam, who was clearly unimpressed with the whole deal.

"Oh, that's right, I totally forgot that you hate stripes there for a second..."

"It's not only the stripes, Carls, it's the fact that they're red and white, and you also know that I hate this day too.

"Oh shush Sam, it's not that big a deal. It's Valentine's Day, so what?"

"Stop acting like Lance didn't get you a completely thoughtful, awesome and romantic gift and that it is a big deal to someone like you."

Carly then shrieked/squealed in delight, causing Spencer to remove one hand from the wheel and cover his ear, it was so loud, while Sam closed her eyes and turned her head, the ringing in her own ears now annoying her on top of everything else. "He totally did! He sent a dozen roses to our apartment with a note that said he promised something even better for after school...so yeah, I can't wait and I'm sorry, but it is a big deal to me! And it should be a big deal to you too, Sam!", she said aloud as they drove onward.

"Why should it be a big deal to me? Nobody ever gets me anything for Valentine's Day, and I don't want anything. You shouldn't need a dumb, janky made up holiday to express your feelings for someone, if you've got someone in your life like that. What makes this one day so much better than every other day?"

Carly grew quiet for a second, obviously more than a little stunned that Sam would whip out the rhetoric like that. Did she make a very convincing and good point? Yes, yes she did. But did Carly expect that from someone like Sam, of all people? Nope.

"Where'd that come from?", Carly asked, eyes still wide as she turned around in her seat to face the blonde.

"My mom was watching some sappy chick flick that NBC was showing and she left it on after she fell asleep on the couch and they were talking about something like that, so it stuck, unfortunately", she grumbled as the car came to a stop in front of Ridgeway.

"You actually sat and watched it?", Spencer asked incredulously as he unlocked the doors for the girls to get out. "I'm amazed you didn't, you know, throw your shoe or some other blunt object at the TV."

"It was loud enough that I could hear it in the kitchen when I was trying to make myself a sandwich, or else I would have", she then murmured as she swung her backpack around her shoulders and exited the car, waving the elder Shay goodbye as her and Carly made their way up the steps toward the front doors.

"Sam, trust me, I don't think today's going to be as bad as you're sure to make it out to be", the brunette sang as they entered the building and walked to their lockers.

"Yeah right, whatev-", Sam was about to say, stopping herself short as she glanced at Carly's face, the sickeningly sweet smile of hers plastered all over her lips. Before Carly could walk away, however, Sam grabbed her arm and spun her around to face her, a questionable look on her face.

"What do you mean, you don't **think** it'll be as bad as I'll make it out to be? What do you know, Shay?", she asked in a demanding tone, her eyes burning holes through Carly's forehead, but all she got was her best friend's smile for a response to go along with a little giggle. "You know something, Carls! Tell me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about", she said in an overtly saccharine tone as she slid her arm out from her best friend's grasp and began to walk away. "I don't know anything!"

Growing frustrated at not being let in on whatever secret Carly knew about, Sam stormed over to her locker, throwing her backpack down on the tiled floor with vigor as angrily began to twist the dial to open her locker. When she did, though, a single white piece of paper floated out and fell to the ground. Raising an eyebrow as she bent down to pick it up, she read the note to herself and grew even more peeved at what it said. "_Dear Sam. Happy Valentine's Day! I know, I know, you hate this holiday just as much as Mr. Howard's existance, but that's ok; it's what makes you so charming. You don't know who I am, and I'm sure it'll make you really angry, but that's part of the surprise! You'll be getting more of these as the day goes on, so stay awake in your classes, or you'll miss out on the surprise that's waiting for you. From, your secret valentine."_

Her eye twitching, she was about to crumple up the piece of paper before she thought against it and shoved it into her front pocket, grabbing her books and slamming the door to her locker with such force that it shook and nearly came unhinged. She hated when she wasn't in the know about secrets and surprises, and it was visibly showing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Freddie casually walking by, and immediately she knew that whatever he had to say wasn't important.

"Hey Sam, what goes on?"

"Not now Benson, I'm chizzin' mad and I'm this close to socking someone in the yam bag, so back off!"

He had spoken all of five words to her and she was already about to rip him to pieces like she had done in the past. But before she could say anything else, he was gone and she was staring at the back of his head was he walked down the hallway, and she sighed, shaking her head and kicking herself mentally for blasting him like that. "Ugh, whatever, he'll get over it by the time I see him in third period", she muttered to herself as she trudged down the hall to first period with Briggs.

Fourty five minutes later, there she was, sitting in her second period math class with her head buried in her arms, beginning to doze off while Mr. Johnson began to drone on about geometry and shapes and finding 'x' and a whole bunch of stuff that Sam didn't really care about. Just as she was about to let sleep take over her, Sam felt something poking her on her shoulder. Agitated that someone would dare wake her up, she turned around to see Wendy holding her hands up in defense, a piece of paper in her hands. She whispered her apology and handed the note to Sam, who snatched it and began to read what it said.

_"Dear Sam. It's me again! Good to see you've heeded my advice and stayed awake. You're probably wondering who I am, or what surprise I have waiting for you. Well, you'll be happy to know that it's something edible, and there's a lot of it, so you can gorge yourself all you'd like. That's clue number one, and you'll get another one soon. From, your secret valentine."_

Sam closed her eyes and sighed, tucking the note into her backpack to go along with the first one she recieved. So there was food involved, and apparently plenty of it, so that was a plus. But she still didn't know who this secret valentine of hers was, and why this dude was even bothering with going out of his way to make her happy. And, on the plus side, she'd have something to talk about at lunch other than putting fire ants into Mr. Howard's briefcase and making Gibby chew gum from underneath a table.

"You mean you've been getting notes all throughout the day and you didn't think to text me and tell me about this!"

Sam shrugged her shoulders as she dug into her fish sticks and tater tots, while Freddie sat beside her quietly, sipping his water and flipping through his history book. Carly gave her best friend an incredulous look and motioned with her arms, as if she was trying to coax more out of the blonde sitting across from her. "Seriously though? You've got a secret valentine! That's so sweet!"

"It is not sweet, Carls, it's annoying. All I know from the three notes so far is that there's food involved, the setting is somewhere that overlooks the park outside and that I'm getting really, really irritated with trying to figure out who this dude is", she said through a mouthfull of fish sticks and Peppy Cola, causing some of it to fly out of her mouth and land on Freddie's book, which repulsed Carly just a little bit. Freddie went to say something but bit his tongue at the last mintue, thinking better against possibly getting **'socked in his yam bag'**, as the angsty blonde to his left had put it earlier.

"Well, that's part of the mystery, Sam...you're not supposed to know who it is for a reason. I don't think his intention was to irritate you so much as he wanted you to be happy knowing that someone in this school cares about you enough to-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, it's all jank in the end, Benson, no need to try and sweeten anything up", she replied, waving him off while he rolled his eyes and closed his book, silently bidding the girls farewell as he made his way to the library for study hall.

"He's right, you know", Carly added as she neatly packed away her garbage and took a sip of her water. "You should be happy, Sam. I mean, has something like this ever happened to you before?"

"No, but..."

"And ever since you and Freddie dated and broke up, you've become a lot less vicious and mean spirited. Don't get me wrong, you're still abrasive and angry, but not as much as you used to be. Dating Freddie really helped mellow you out, and I thought that you'd, you know, with how you've been acting as of late, you'd maybe be a little surprised that someone's showing interest in you."

Sam stared at Carly with a blank expression on her face, her eyes then narrowing and her lips pursing together. "You still know something that I don't, I know you do. Spill the beans, Shay. What's the deal? Who's the dude behind all of this?"

And just like before, Carly gave her best friend that sweet little smile of her's, standing up from her seat and taking her tray with her, stopping short to say that she had no idea what she was talking about before disposing of her garbage and walking off, out of the cafeteria, leaving a bewildered and still agitated Sam to stew as she wondered what the chiz was going on on this stupid made up holiday.

"Hey Sam, how's it han-"

Before Gibby could even get the words out to complete his sentence, Sam elbowed him in the gut and heard a thud as Gibby collapsed to the ground in a heap, coughing and wheezing while she stood up and left her garbage where it was on the table, storming out of the cafeteria to her next class. But while she was on her way there, one of the boys in her math class, some kid named Erik, stopped her before she could go anywhere else.

"Yo, Sam! I got this note that has your name on it and-"

"Shut up and let me have it, nub!", she screamed, shoving the poor kid into the nearby lockers, a loud bang echoing through the halls as the boy scurried off down the hall, leaving her alone in the hall with the note. Tearing it open, she read it to herself, much like she had with the previous three.

_"Dear Sam. Well, this is the last one! Hope I've managed to keep your interest somewhat high throughout the day with each of these notes. I'm sure that by now, you're ready to rip someone's head off to find out who I am and what I've got in store for you, but you need not worry. I've got someone in the know, and when your last class is over, meet up with this person and she'll direct you to where you need to go. Hope this helps, Sam! I look forward to seeing you very, very soon. From, your secret valentine."_

The rest of the day flew by, and by the time the final bell rang, Sam was itching to get to the bottom of who her 'secret valentine' was. When it did ring, she leapt up from her desk and bolted out the door before anyone else could, and she raced to her locker, where she found a smiling Carly waiting for her arrival.

"I **knew** you had something to do with this!", Sam shouted as she reached her locker, but all Carly did was continue to smile as she motioned with her head to follow her. Weaving through the crowd of kids exiting their classes and going to their lockers, Carly led Sam up the stairs and to the very end of the last hallway on the second floor, where the ladder to the roof was.

"Well, this is where I leave you to your own suspicions. Up this ladder is where your secret valentine is, Sam. Please try not to kill him when you get up there, alright? He really put a lot of time into this and-"

"Alright alright, I won't kill whoever it is."

Carly smiled and nodded, waving goodbye as Sam began to climb up the ladder. After what felt like forever, she finally reached the roof. After getting on top and straightening herself out, she went to say something, but when she turned around, she clasped her hands over her mouth and stared in shock and awe at what was before her.

A small table was set up with red cloth covering it, and there were little tiny rose petals scattered around. Two candles were lit and in the center of the table was the largest ham that Sam had ever, ever seen. Rendered speechless, she wandered towards the table, staring out over the park from the roof of the school. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Was it a dream? Who would go through all this trouble just to impress her on a holiday that she hated with such vigor and passion? "Whoever did this must've really went the extra mile...this is amazing...I should hate this but I can't believe that I don't..."

"Well, I figured once you saw the ham, everything else was going to be rendered obsolete."

Sam spun around to see Freddie standing mere inches away from her, a grin on his lips while Sam stared at him, a mixture of emotions coursing through her body, ranging from wanting to kick him in the teeth to kissing him like they were going out again. She hadn't noticed that he slipped behind her and pulled out her chair for her. Sitting down, he did the same and continued to smile at her. "Well, what do you think, Puckett?"

"I think...I...I don't know what to think, Benson. Why?"

He grinned at her. "It's been five months since we broke up, and I've done a whole lot of thinking in those five months...and I've realized that for the short amount of time that we were dating, it was the best time of my life. Sure, we fought a whole lot, too much, but that's just who we are...we're always fighting over something. And we agreed that if one or the other were to make some compromises, that we'd try dating again..."

"Is this what this is all about...?"

"Let me finish, Sam. I think you'll be proud to know that I quit the model train club, I can smuggle a huge ham or any meat product into any place by hiding it in my pants, and I've also realized that...I've missed you."

"But I see you all the time, Freddie...how could you miss me?"

"I meant that I missed you as my girlfriend."

She sat there in stunned silence, not even bothering to take a slice of the ham that was practically calling her name. She couldn't believe that Freddie would go to such lengths to impress her, even though he knew that she hated this holiday and could've done it any other day...but it showed that he cared deeply about her. All of this...the notes, the suspicion, the rose petals, the view of the park, the HAM...she couldn't believe she was saying this to herself, but it was all so thoughtful and romantic and...sweet. Truth be told, she had missed him a great deal as her boyfriend, and though it was hard for her to change her ways, especially for a boy (even if it was Freddie), she had been finding herself, like Carly pointed out, becoming less and less vicious and more mellowed out. And she had the nub in front of her to thank for it.

"Sam? Are you going to-"

She cut him off mid sentence by grabbing his head and crushing her lips to his and holy chiz did it feel great to be able to do that again. They remained locked at the lips for a good minute before breaking apart and getting some air. Both of them were smiling like goofs, and why wouldn't they be?

"Is that a yes?"

Sam nodded her head eagerly. "I missed you as my boyfriend."

Freddie beamed as he reached across and grabbed her by the hand, holding it in his. "Happy Valentine's Day, Sam. I love you."

She had gone from waking up and hating this holiday so, so much to sitting on the roof of the school with a giant sized ham, an awesome view of the park below, a new found respect for Valentine's Day and the boy whom she loved dearly sitting across from her. Could he had done this on any other ordinary day? Oh yeah, and she'd let him know about it, because like she said, you didn't need just one day like this to profess your love for someone. But right now?

"I love you too, Freddie."

She was willing to live in the moment.


End file.
